Assessment of Oil Paints for Corrosion Protection of Reinforcing Steel Bars in Concrete

Corrosion becomes a threat to reinforced concrete structural integrity during the service life of the structural member. This situation has become a global concern because of the economic and safety implications. Hence, many corrosion inhibition techniques including coating with materials (organic and inorganic) were used to prevent its devastating effects. The present study used three oil paint brands (mat, red-oxide and gloss Leyland oil paints in Ghana) to variedly coat reinforcing steel bars to ascertain their corrosion protection capacity in concrete. There were zero, one, two and three paint coats of average film thickness, 72 µm, 129 µm and 220 µm respectively explored. An Electrochemical process involved simulated concrete pore solution made of 10% sodium chloride (NaCl) in distilled water with three electrode systems to represent a corrosion medium was used to determine corrosion protection capacity of the paints. The results indicate over 90% corrosion resistance of the paints used. Comparing the corrosion rates of the coated and uncoated reinforcing steel bars, while it would take a one coat steel bar 342.5 years and 237 years respectively for spraying and manual brushing modes to reduce in diameter by 0.616mm, it would take only one year for an uncoated steel bar to reduce by this same 0.616mm. The protection capacity proved better with increasing coats on all corrosion variables for the selected paints used. The implication is that the selected oil paint brands are capable of protecting reinforcing steel bars in concrete against corrosion and therefore recommended for application to reduce maintenance cost. Statistically, no significant difference existed between coating mode, number of coatings, paint type and steel type on the corrosion variables for the coated steel bars. However, a further study about the durability of the coating in the concrete during its service time is recommended.